Big Red Puckhead

April 3, 2015

February 28, 2014

Each Senior Weekend brings its own mix of joy and sadness. Players one's spent four years watching and sharing the highs and lows with doesn't pass without some conflicting feelings. Sad to see them leave, but happy to know they've become part of something very special to so many of us and, no doubt, to them as well.

This weekend we bid a regular season farewell to Rodger Craig, Armand de Swardt, Craig Esposito, Kirill Gotovets, Andy Iles, and Dustin Mowrey.

October 31, 2012

Fresh off a visit to Ithaca to take in the Colorado College game on Saturday, Cameron Hackett (6' 2", 196), a 1996-born goalie from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario committed to Cornell for 2014. Cameron is currently at Ridley College Prep where he's helped the Tigers get off to an 8-0-1 record -- Ridley plays in both the Midwest Prep League and the CISAA League. Other schools reportedly showing interest in Cameron were BU, Michigan State, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Cameron is also listed on the Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) affiliate roster after having been drafted in the 6th round of the Futures Draft this past summer. In fact, Cameron has been one of the youngest goalies to play in the USHL this season when he was called up for a game against Chicago earlier this month, a game which went to the Steel 4-3 in OT when future Big Red teammate Jeff Kubiak picked up the assist on the game-winner.

Thanks to Cornell legend Ben Scrivens for breaking the news on twitter.

October 23, 2012

Nolan De Jong has decommitted from Cornell. Nolan has had a terrific start to his second BCHL season having picked up 2 goals and 9 assists in 15 games for Victoria, which ties him for 5th in league in scoring among defensemen.

Nolan has recently been invited to the Team Canada West camp for the World Junion A Challenge. Nolan was also listed as a B-rated prospect by Central Scouting this summer.

September 29, 2012

Though the fans may forget about Lynah during the summer, Lynah never forgets about its fans. Expect to see some cosmetic changes to the old barn when you next return. Here's a little preview, just a taste mind you. For more, you'll have to wait for your next visit.

The top picture leads into sections E-F from the main concourse. The bottom picture leads into section H-J from same concourse.

June 18, 2012

Woody Hudson (6' 3", 215), a 1992-born forward from Rochester, NY, has committed to Cornell for 2013. He's a tough, physical player who brings a lot of energy to the rink and spent last season with the Indiana Ice (USHL), where he had a line of 62-11-8-19-121 in his rookie campaign and was a teammate of incoming freshman Christian Hilbrich. He had originally committed to RIT last August but had a change of heart during the winter.

Prior to joining the Ice, Woody spent two years at Milton Academy where he helped the Mustangs to the New England Prep Championship his senior year, finishing third in team scoring with 16 goals and 18 assists. During the final, a 2-1 win over Kent, USHR provided some on-going commentary which included these two gems:

After two... Kent really carried the play offensively... Milton's Hudson is
doing his best to neutralize Kent's edge in physical play by just
pummeling guys.

That being said, Woody's more than capable of contributing offensively and putting the puck in the net.

Before prep school Woody attended McQuaid, one of the Rochester area hockey powers. In his final year with McQuaid he was selected to the annual Scotty Bowman Showcase (featuring the top high school players from Rochester and Buffalo).

Woody will spend another year in the USHL and then become the third Indiana Ice alum on the 2013 roster, joining Brian Ferlin and Christian Hilbrich.

May 16, 2012

Chris Heisenberg is listing Mike McCarron as having changed his commitment from Michigan State to Cornell. Mike (6'5", 220), a 1995-born forward, is the brother of rising Big Red sophomore John McCarron. Mike recently completed his first season with the USNTDP, where he scored 6 goals, assisted on 21 others, and picked up a mere 128 penalty minutes in 53 games with the U17 Nationals.

Mike is scheduled to arrive on East Hill in 2013 and will join fellow NTDP alums Andy Iles, Cole Bardreau, and Gavin Stoick.

The Chilliwack Chiefs have announced that Mitch Gillam (5'11", 181), a 1992-born goalie has committed to the Big Red for 2013. Mitch recently completed his first year in the BCHL after having graduated from the Berkshire School, where he helped the Bears to playoffs in his two seasons.

The Peterborough (ON) native posted a 3.12 GAA and a 91.0 save percentage this season and was named to the BCHL Interior Conference 2nd-team, along with future teammate Reece Willcox, as well as to the All-Rookie team.

Mitch was ranked a "C" by NHL Central Scouting in October, 2010. Mitch's brother Josh played at Dartmouth from 2006-2010.

February 25, 2012

St. Mike's and Toronto Lakeshore are underway in Round 2 action in Ontario. The Buzzers have a 1-0 lead in its best-of-seven series with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, while the Patriots are tied at a game each with Vaughan.

January 26, 2012

The NAHL has released the rosters for its upcoming Top Prospects Tournament, which runs from February 20-22 in Troy, Michigan. The tournament includes six teams (five comprised by divisional teams and one selected from the league's top 94s, with a few 93s included) and will play a three-game series. Eric Sade will play with the U18s, whose schedule is as follows:

January 22, 2012

Wins were difficult to come by for the USA's U16 team that participated in the Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. The Nats finished fourth with its only wins over Austria (7-2) and Finland (5-4) in the prelims. The Yanks fell to Canada (5-1) and Russia (7-1) in the opening round, then also lost to Russia (5-2) in the semis and Canada (7-5) in the 3rd-place game.

Ryan Bliss was named captain for the two games against Canada. In the 6 games, Ryan's line was 0-2-2 with 4 penalty minutes and a +1 rating.

Choate's Alex Rauter (6' 1", 180), a 1994-born forward has committed to Cornell for 2013. Alex is from Basking Ridge, NJ, and in his first year at Choate. In 16 games this season Alex has scored 14 goals and added 21 assists, good for second on the team in scoring.

Alex spent last season playing with the North Jersey Avalanche in the Atlantic Metro League and with Chatham High School. In AMYHL play Alex scored 33 goals and had 22 assists in 22 games. For Chatham, Alex scored 40 goals and added 44 assists in helping his school to a Class B title. Alex finished tied for the state lead in points and was named to the All-State second team.

Alex was ranked 172 in the recent midterm rankings by NHL Central Scouting.

January 12, 2012

The Indiana Ice have announced that Christian Hilbrich (6' 6", 216), a 1992-born forward has committed to Cornell for 2012. In 30 games this season, Christian has scored 8 goals and added 11 assists for the Ice. Last year, in his rookie USHL campaign, Christian scored 10 goals and added 5 assists in 50 games.

Christian, a native of Clarendon Hills, Illinois, will join two former junior teammates when he arrives on East Hill next fall. Last year, Christian played with Brian Ferlin in Indiana and one year earlier he teamed up with Armand de Swardt in Wenatchee (NAHL).

December 1, 2011

U.S. Hockey Report ran a story today detailing how an IIHF technicality has seemingly derailed Joakim Ryan's attempt to play for Sweden at the upcoming World Junior Championships. Ostensibly, a player is required to have been rostered for 24 consecutive months with a team in the country for whom the player is attempting to play. Unfortunately, Joakim never went more than 22 months with any team while growing up in Sweden. Joakim had previously represented Sweden in both the World Junior A Challenge and the Ivan Hlinka U17 tournaments neither of which, unfortunately, being an IIHF-sanctioned event.

To make matters worse, last spring Joakim was invited to represent Sweden at the IIHF-sanctioned U18 World Championships but was unable to attend as his USHL team, Dubuque, was in the playoffs and unwilling to release him. Had he been able to play he would now be eligible to represent Sweden in sanctioned events. Additionally, Joakim participated in Sweden's Junior National camp held in New York during the summer. USHR is uncertain as to why the rule now preventing his participation wouldn't have done so last spring.

Joakim will be eligible for another year and apparently has the right to appeal, though it isn't clear what the basis of such an appeal would be.

November 22, 2011

Gavin Stoick (6'3", 219), a 1994-born defenseman with the USNTDP announced via Twitter that he has decided on Cornell for next fall. Gavin, born in Michigan just outside Ann Arbor, grew up in Oregon. For the past two seasons he's played primarily defense while with the NTDP, though prior to joining the Nats he played plenty of forward with the Colorado Thunderbird Midget program. In fact, when NHL.com released its preliminary draft watchlist Gavin appeared (as a forward, though perhaps more clerical then prognosticative) as the 16th-ranked prospect in the USHL. He's settled in nicely at the blueline and will add great versatility to the Big Red next fall.

In 19 games with U18s Gavin has scored one goal and helped on two others while having picked up only six penalty minutes. While with the Thunderbirds, Gavin had the following scoring line in 85 games, 35-32-67. USHR notes that Gavin had to slot back to defense due to an injury during his Select 15 festival camp and stayed there through the camp All-Star game, playing well enough to help solidify his invite to the NTDP.

This year the U18s won its third straight gold medal at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship (held in Germany) and Gavin will join fellow gold medalists Andy Iles (2009) and Cole Bardreau (2010) on the Big Red. The team also won its second straight gold at the Four Nations tournament in Switzerland earlier this month.

November 21, 2011

The Toronto Lakeshore Patriots announced that Matt Buckles (6' 1", 195), a 1995-born forward has committed to the Big Red for 2013. Matt is in his rookie year in the OJHL and has scored 8 goals and added 7 assists in 20 games for the Pats, where he is their youngest player. Matt was recently selected in participate in the CJHL Prospects Game where he scored a goal in the two-game series.

Matt skated with the Dom Mills Midget program and last season scored 16 goals and had 15 assists in 39 games with the Flyers. Matt was a 4th-round selection of the Soo Greyhounds (OHL) in this past summer's selection draft.

November 8, 2011

Patrick McCarron has been selected to participate in the 2011 Canadian Junior Hockey League Prospects Games. This is a two-game series between Canada East and West and is meant to feature 40 NHL prospects from Canadian junior leagues. The series will be played this weekend, November 12 and 13, in Langley, B.C.

Patrick was one of the final cuts from Team Canada East's roster for the World Junior A Challenge, which is currently being played in Langley.

November 1, 2011

Teemu Tiitinen (5' 11", 175), a 1992-born forward with the Lincoln Stars (USHL) has committed to Cornell for 2012. Teemu is from Suwanee, Georgia, and is in his second year with Lincoln. In 7 games this season he has been scoreless; last year he scored 7 goals and had 18 assists in 62 games with the Stars. Prior to joining Lincoln, Teemu spent a season with the Dallas Stars AAA midget team where he scored 22 goals and added 16 assists in 48 games.

In 2009, Teemu represented Finland's U18s in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, where he faced future Big Red teammate Brian Ferlin in a 3-2 loss to Team USA.

October 24, 2011

Patrick McCarron has been invited to attend Canada East's selection camp for the 2011 World Junior A Challenge. Patrick is the youngest of the 12 defensemen invited to the final camp, which will run from October 29-31.

September 19, 2011

USHR has reported that Ryan Bliss (6' 2", 192), a 1996-born defenseman from Bedford, NH, has committed to Cornell for 2014. As a freshman at St. Paul's School last year Ryan played in 24 games and scored a goal and had two assists.

After the Beantown Summer Classic, USHR considered Ryan one of the top 4 blueliners at the event, mentioning early interest from Cornell and Yale. After visiting BU last week, Ryan selected the Big Red over Vermont.

September 9, 2011

Nolan De Jong (6' 2", 170), a 1995-born blueliner from Victoria, BC, has committed to the Big Red for either 2013 or 2014. Nolan spent last season with the South Island Thunderbirds where he scored 3 goals and added 9 assists in 38 games for the Saanich Minor Midget team. This season Nolan will be playing with the Victoria Grizzlies (BCHL).

Victoria has been very good to Cornell over the past two seasons with three former Grizzlies currently on the Big Red roster: sophomore Dustin Mowrey, and freshmen Madison Dias and Joel Lowry.

Nolan has been shortlisted by BC Hockey and is under consideration to represent Team Pacific at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

August 5, 2011

Stephen Miller has been selected to the EJHL All-Star team set to participate in the World Junior Cup in Omsk, Siberia. Stephen will represent the New Hampshire Jr Monarchs in Omsk. The Cup begins August 30th and runs through September 3rd.

Given the heat we've experienced this summer, Siberia sounds like a cool breeze.

June 6, 2011

May 13, 2011

The Spruce Grove Saints officially announced that Vincenzo Marozzi (6'0", 175), a 1990-born goalie has committed to the Big Red for this fall. Vincenzo will arrive in Ithaca after putting up impressive numbers these past couple of seasons with the Saints (Alberta JHL), which won the AJHL and recently lost to the Vernon Vipers (BCHL) in the Doyle Cup. This past season, Vincenzo led the league in wins (45), GAA (1.60), Save % (.933), and tied for the league lead in shutouts (9) and holds the team record for career GAA (1.80) and shutouts (21).

April 8, 2011

Patrick McCarron (6, 1", 174), a 1994-born defenseman with St. Michael's (OJHL) has committed to the Big Red for 2012 or 2013. Patrick scored three goals and had seven assists in 38 games with St. Mike's this season.

In February, Patrick appeared in this N.Y. Times article on the NCAA/CHL battle for recruits.

April 6, 2011

NHL Central Scouting has ranked the top-10 players in 6 regions: the 3 major junior leagues, USA East, USA West, and Canadian Junior/Midget. In USA East, Philippe Hudon and Stephen Miller made the list, while Joel Lowry made the Canadian Junior/Midget list.

Vernon won its third straight BCHL championship with a 5-4 win over top-seeded Powell River on Tuesday. The Vipers swept the series against the Kings and will move on to the Doyle Cup against the winner of the Alberta JHL championship (Spruce Grove currently leads Camrose 3 games to 1).

John Knisley scored 3 goals and had 3 assists in his 14 playoff games, which included a 3rd-Star performance in game 3 when he scored the game-winning goal unassisted.

March 12, 2011

Eric Sade (6' 0", 175), a 1994-born defenseman from Washington, DC has committed to the Big Red for the 2013 season according to U.S. Hockey Report. Eric is reportedly a solid defense-oriented player with a physical edge, excellent quickness and skating ability. USHR cites that Eric is an outstanding multi-sport athlete who was a member of St. Albans record setting 4x100 meter relay team.

Eric scored 3 goals and had 27 assists in 59 games with DC Caps' U18 (midget co-op between Washington Little Caps and Team Maryland) team this season. DC was the AYHL regular season champion. Eric is expected to play in the USHL where he was selected by Des Moines in the USHL futures draft last year.

Other schools reportedly in the running for Eric were New Hampshire and Princeton.

About Me

I hope this is a place where one can come to catch up on what's going on in the world of Cornell hockey recruiting. I'm not an insider (nor do I speak for the hockey program, the University, or claim to know anything of any real value); I’m just a fan who likes to poke around and find out what others may be hearing or saying about the most-beloved college hockey program in the U.S. Let's Go Red...Let's Go Red...Let's Go Red.